NC Dinos sign Matt Dermody to replace Wes Parsons

Matt Dermody [NC DINOS]

The NC Dinos on Thursday announced the signing of former major league pitcher Matt Dermody for $220,000 after releasing Wes Parsons last week.

Dermody, 32, made his major league debut with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2016, playing a total of 28 games with the Canadian club over the 2016 and 2017 seasons. He played a single game in 2020 and 2022 with the Chicago Cubs — the 2022 appearance was only last week — but spent most of the rest of his career playing in the minors.

Dermody spent last season playing in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league with the Seibu Lions.

Over 20 games with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs this season, Dermody picked up six wins and three losses with a 3.74 ERA.

Dermody replaces Parsons, who joined the Dinos last season and re-signed this year, but has struggled with a back injury that has taken him out of contention since May 14. Parsons left the KBO last week with one win and two losses on the season with a 3.56 ERA.

Dermody's signing comes as the Dinos look to make a late push for a postseason spot. The Changwon club currently sits in seventh place as of press time Thursday, 1.5 games behind the sixth-place Doosan Bears and six games behind the Kia Tigers, who occupy the wildcard spot.

After getting off to a rough start to the 2022 KBO season, the Dinos have steadily climbed up the table over the last month and currently post the second-best winning percentage in the league for the second half of the season, after the first-place SSG Landers.

But with such a large gap separating the top and bottom halves of the table — the Landers have a run away 23.5 game lead over the Bears — it will take a serious effort for the Dinos to pull themselves into contention, and likely the collapse of one of the higher clubs as well. The Dinos also won't be alone in that effort — the fall ball-loving Bears will also look to mount a late charge of their own over the coming weeks.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]